Works by an Oakville artist who specializes in large-scale floral paintings are featured in a new exhibition at a Wortley Village gallery.

Elle Belz’s Heaven on Earth is at Westland Gallery until May 19.

“Elle describes herself as ‘a contemporary expressionism artist’ referring to her modern take on floral subject matter and her loose brushwork,” said Danielle Hoevenaars, associate director at the gallery. “Her work reinvigorates the traditional floral still life by using exaggerated scale and a contemporary palette. Many of her four and five-foot canvases show oversize white blooms in subtle pastel tones.” While some panels are in bold, deep colours, many take a soft approach with white tones, mint and icy blue with various greens, pinks and oranges for a colourful accent, Hoevenaars said.

“Elle marries abstraction and realism,” Hoevenaars said. “Her works are immediately recognizable as flowers but are built up with layers of dynamic brushwork and gestural mark-making. Her expressive style allows her to capture both the physical subject and emotions that nature and flowers can evoke.”

Much of the work in the exhibition is part of Belz’s newest series intended “to be brave and bold and marry fragility and strength, lightness and darkness, Heaven and Earth.”

Belz received a bachelor of science with a minor in fine arts from the University of Prince Edward Island in 1997.

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